Milking-machine.



No. 890,376. PATENTEDJUNE 9, 1908.

A. RI'DD.'

MILKING MACHINE. APPLICATION HLBD JAN. 28. 1908.

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To all whom it 'mag/conce'r'ltf Be it kno-Wn that I, Anrnosn Ripp, subject oi the King of Great Britain, residing at `-l/Vaipulu, in the Dominion of New Zealand,

shave invented a new and usefulImprove:V

ment in or Relating' to Milking-Machines and l do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention relates to that class of milking machines in which a vacuum is employed for the purpose of drawing the milk from the cows 'teats to a milk can, and in which teat ycups are employed, one of which is placed upon eachteat, which cups are in communication with the can, and veach one of which is composed of an outer casing and an inner lining, which lining is adapted to be pulsated, that is, to be infiated and deilated so as to alternately squeeze and release the teat simultaneously with the drawing action. of

the vacuum upon the teat. ,Y

The invention has been designed in order to provide for a newconstruction of teat cup, and especially of the inner lining thereof, by

. means of which construction the pressureA of the lining upon the teat, when it is inilated, may be caused to closely resemble the pressure of the human hand when hand milking is bein performed; and to provide an improved pu sator", or means whereby the inflation and deflation oi such lining may be regularly and alternately effected by connecting the space surrounding the liningl with the atmos here and vacuum; and, also, to provide 'for t e draw ofthe vacuumlupon the teat be-y ing intermittently broken irhultaneously With the release of the pressure of the teat cup liningthereon, so as to resemble the ac- .tionoi a calis suction.

The invention is illustrated in the acoompanying drawings, in Which,-

Figure 1 is a general view of the appliances embodying the invention. Fig. 2 isa 'detail on an enlarged scale showingl an ordinary .45 form of teat cup claw employed in milking machinery, and the means now designed for intermittently 'breaking the draw of. the vacuum upon the coWs teats. Fig. 3 is an elevation of one of the teat cups employed 50 y'and constructed according to this invention.

Fig. 4 isla sectional elevation thereof,

V5 is a sectional plan taken on the'line 5-5 oi Fig. 4. Fig.v 6 is 'a front view of the imroved pulsator employed in this invention.

l ig. 27 is a side elevation thereof. S is a Specification of Lettere Patent.V Appleman mea Jamal-,1 2s, isos.

Patented .T une 9, 1908.

serial no. 413,003. Y

sectional plan taken on the line S-Soi Fig. 6, and Fig. 9 isa face View of one portion of the pulsator.

The -apiliances em iloyed consist 01"' the -usualrnnllrcan A, which i`s`"connected by means'oi' the branche, with a vpipe main B, through which a vacuum "is obtained .and maintained in the main, and can, by any.V approved and Well k-noyvn means. i

rom the can e iiexible pine connection c leads to the teat vcup claw. llhis claw is constructed in the manner shown in Fig. 2, and is composed of two parallel pipes G and D, one of which, C, is .connected lWith the pipe c leading to the milk can, -While the other, D, is connected with the flexible pipe e, leading to a pulsatin appliance E, to be hereinafter described. ttached to these two pipes are the four cross pipes, F, F, and 1G, G,.each one formed with upwardly turned o en .ends. The cross pipes F, F, are open `to t e pipe C, so that the draw of the vacuum in the milk can A, will be exerted through such pipes. l The cross pipes G, G, are connected with the pi )e E, so that the pulsations caused therein wil be exerted through them. Four teat oups are iixed to the claw, and these fami* cups havc their central spaces Within .the linings connected with the res ective tour ends oi the cross pipes F, F, Whi e the annular spaces between the linings andthe oesings of the four cups are respectively .connected to the four ends of the cross plpeslG, These connections and appliances are well known, and form no feature of 4this `invention. Their action is that, While the vacuum in the milk can is drawing on fthe teats laced Within the cups, the Ilinings thereoi will be alternately initiated and Adcflated, so that the suction on the teats will be -95 aided by a regular squeezing and releasing of the teats, thus assisting the flow of the milk therefrom, which then will fluwelen?. the connection c to the can The construction of test. oop is Aahoy/'n 100 in the drawings, Figs. 3, 4 and 5: Thelcu'p is iormedwith the ordinar outer cylindrical casing J, and the inner rublier lining fitting. therein in such a manner as to leave 'the clear annular space L around it. This 'lining 165 is carried' up overthe top edge of the casi-ng, and is formed with a centralepeningc ada ted to pass over a coWs teat.I An annu ar metal plate la a groove in thee e of this opening, and serves to prevent tee 3.10

lining being Withdrawn from at the Sametime to ail'ord a surround thc teat.

M is the usual connection leading` from. the inside of the cup, and joined witi the top end of one of the cross pipes F of the claw, and N'is the usual connection leading from its easing and mouthpiece to the annular space L, and joined with the top arneter towards its bottom end. as shown in Fig. 2. This increase in the. thickness of the lining towards its bottom end will insure that when the lining is inflated by the admission of air to the space L the top, or weaker, end will be forced out first, and` the inflation will gradually work downward. Thus the pressure exerted upon teat placed within the cup,l will be applied first to the root of the teat, and will gradually work down to its point. Likewise, when the lining is dellated y withdrawing the air from the space lr, the root of the teat will first be released from the pressure, and the releasing action will work down to the teats point. Thus it will be insured that the wliole of the milk in .the teat will be s ueezed from it. l,

The ri )s K will, as the liningl is inllated, first make contact with the teat. and will resemble in their pressure upon the teat, the pressure of the balls olA the human lingers when'milking by hand. lli desired, the insidewall of the lining may be formed with grooves K2 extending down its surface between the ribs. These grooves will serve to weaken the lining at those oints, and thus asbsistin the result obtained liy the use of the r1 s.

The means designed for intermittently stop ing the draw of the vacuum on the teats simu taneously with the release of the teat cup lining's pressure thereon, are shown in Fie. 2. These means consist of a small cylinder O, closed at one end and at its closed end, connected with the pipe D leading to the.

ulsator. A piston O- (shown by dotted ines) is placed within the cylinder and a piston rod o projects from the o )en end thercol. A butterlly or like valve lt (shown by dotted lines) is mounted within the pipe (l upon pivot pins which proj ect outsidty the pipe and are formed in one with cranks 'r and r arranged oppositely to each other. The. crank 1' is connected to the piston rod 0, while the crank '1" is connected to om` end of a spring S, which normally keeps such crank pulled towards it, and the cylinder piston drawn ou t towards the open end of the cylinder in the manner shown in the drawings. The valve l l l l l R is so attached to the cranks that when they are in this position, the valve is opened, and a free passage along the pipe C, provided.

Vfhen the pipe D is connected by the action of the pulsator, with the vacuum main B, to dellate the teat cup lining, the suction of such vacuum will draw the piston O into the cylinder, thereby turning the cranks r and r in such a manner as to close the valve R against the action of the spring S, and thereby check the through the pipe/C` while the lining is being dellated and the squeeze upon the teat re moved. Then the pipe D is connected with the atmosphere, by the action ol the pulsator, in order to inflate the teat cup lining, the draw on the piston O will be removed so tha-t the spring S will open the valve again and draw the piston outwards in the cylinder. Consequently, the valve ll will be regularly opened and closed simultaneously with the inflation and deflation of the lining, thus insuring that the suction on the teats will occur simultaneously with the squeezing action et the teat cup linings thereon.

The pulsator that has been designed, and as shown in Figs. 6 to 9 of the drawings, consists of a disk T provided with a bearing ziprojehetilig central y from its face. Un such ea ring", a wheel U is mounted, such wheel having a flat surface adjacent to the tace of the disk. This wheel is kept in close contact with the disk by means of a spring W sun rounding the outer end of' the. bearing, and

pressing against the outer surface of the wheel. The wheel is adapted to be rotated by any suitable appliance.

The disk T is formed with two holes T and T2 therein, these holes opening respectively into the bottom ends of passages T3 and TA1 which are connected respectively with the pipe connection e leading to the pipe l) of the teat cup claw before described, and to the vacuum main B. The wheel U is provided with a passage way u formed on its surface adjacent to the disk, this passage being of su'tlicient length and so adjusted that it will extend across and connect the two holes T and T2 together, when the wheel is at a certain position of its rotation.

The wheel is also formed withva hole Vv passing right through it, and arranged approximately at a position diametrically opposite to the passage u. This hole is so disposed that as the wheel is rotated, it will pass the hole T and period, thereby allowingl the atmospheric air lo pass through it into the holerT".

vlt will be seen that as the wheel is revolved, it alternately causes connection-to be made between the holes T and T2 through the pussage u (as shown in Fig. S) so that the draw of the vacuum in the pipe B will be communi" cated through them to the. connection and pipejland 'rOn'r'it, 1tofthemspacesaroundfthe coincide therewith 'lor a short cenare teat cu linings and then for connection to be vma e with such -spaces and the atmosphere throughV the hole T in the disk and the ole W inf-the Wheel. Consequently, the spaces L' around the linin s of the teat cups will, in this manner, be a ternately deiiated and inflated as required.` The length of time lthe connection e Will be in communication with the vacuum and with the atmosphere,

g stantially as "specified.

2. Inmilklng machines, the' combination with 'a teat cup having yan' outer casing and an inner inflatable lining formed with a Wall. increasing in thickness `towards its bottom end, but-,of uniform internal diameter and with three projecting ribs extending down its inside surface at-uniorm circumferential distances apart, of a vacuum' pipe connection leading to the inside of the inner lining, a pulsator ipe connection leading to the space around t e innerlining, a cylinder o en'at one end and in communication "with tne pulsator pipe at its closed end, a piston and `is ton rod Within suchcylinder, a pivoted va ve mountedvwithin': the vacuum pipe connection, .va crank arm upon the valves pivot, adapted when turned, to close the valve, and connected lo the piston rod and means 'for retaining the valve in a normally open condition, subst'antiallyas specified.

.3. In .milking machines, the combination with a teat cup having an outer casing and an inner inflatable lining formed with a wall increasing in thickness towards its bottom end, but of uniform internal diameter and with three projecting ribs extending down its inside surface at uniform circumferential distances apart, of means for alternately connecting the space between the inner lining and casing' with the atmosphere, and a vacuum source such means consisting oi a iat disk having twov a ert'ures therein "communicatin'g respective y with a connection leadinfr'to the vacuum, and with thespace around the teat cup lining, and a Wheel rotat ing against` the faceof the disk and'having a passage in its surface, adjacent to. the disk, adapted at a point in the wheels revolution, to connect the two a ertures together, and having an aperture t rough it, which at a point 1n the'wheels revolution is adapted to coincide with the aperture in the disk ,that is communication with the space around the teat cuplining, substantially asspecied.

In testimony whereof, l have l.signed this specication in the presence oi two subscribing Witnesses. v

' AMBROSE RIDD. Witnesses:

W. M. "Bosman, H. ALEXANDER. 

